NGD Luna Vista Eagle

[katopp]

Living in Ireland does not help, when it comes to guitars. Our economy went down the drain in 2008 to 2012 and a lot of the music shops went down with it. My city - Cork - went down from 5 or 6 to one and a half. The Interwebz have taken over and most business is now done over the web. Thomann drove down the prices so much that the remaining shops sell what Thoman does not list and otherwise sell mostly cheap and nasty beginner’s stuff.

So I ran into an offer for a Luna Vista Eagle guitar for about 50% off the street price on teh Interwebz. With case, warranty and all. No risk, I could flip that thing with little loss - if any at all - should I not like it.

So I bought it shortly before the holidays and waited for it to arrive.

While I was waiting, I did look up a bit about Luna. Seems like they are the softer side of Dean guitars, whereas Dean is hard’n’heavy mostly male metal, Luna is more like the folky, a bit more lighthearted side of the business. Also more feminine in many designs. The Vista series is their top of the range and it features some nice inlay woodwork and a nice set of B-Band PU/Pre. The blurb says the body is lam Koa and did not say anything about the top. Strange…. But we will see.

As luck would have it, a storm hit the Irish sea and transport and travel was restricted. Then the christmas returns clogged the parcel carrier’s gears and instead of the planned three days for shipping it took 12 days. You get used to that when you live on this island.

Finally, the guitar arrived and I had my first look at it. Nice enough case. The usual wood construction, I guess, but covered with a tooled faux leather. Looks good, but it’s not good for gigging. There I prefer a hardshell, aluminum frame case. Those wooden cases are not cutting it. But hey, it came with the guitar, so I shall not complain. It will serve me well, storing the guitar and protect it from dust and wagging dogtails.

The guitar itself is heavy. Heavier than Binh’s and heavier than the similarly sized Yamaha FJX. But heavy in a good, solid way. The neck is no tremolo and it has a nice, solid feel to it.

The body is made of laminated Koa. Now, I have paid half the street price and for that I do not mind lam woods for that price, but if I would have full price, I would feel a bit short changed.

The top is made of a nice marquetry of beautiful woods. But the marquetry is made of paper thin veneer and laminated on some nondescript top wood. I would not have complained if it would have been a $200 guitar, but on a guitar north of $600, I feel short changed. Again.

To be honest, the top wood below the veneer looks like it could be solid spruce … but who knows? Top, back and sides are bound in wood that looks like it could be Koa or Maple.

The Neck is Mahogany, but it’s a two-piece job. Better than the usual Chinese four-piece jobs, but again, on a guitar with a price tag north of $600, I would feel short changed.

But, to be honest, it is a comfy, well shaped job. Unfortunately it’s painted in gloss, I prefer satin.

The fretboard and the saddle are made of ebony, a feature that I am particularly fond of. There is nothing like ebony for a good fretboard and saddle. The fretboard has a more pronounced radius than I usually prefer, but it’s still good, especially because of the nice fretwork and the very good setup. The guitar came with an action of 5/64 for the E and a hair less than 1/16 for the e’. The nut is cut nicely too and the Luna is the first guitar that came with a setup that I have nothing to complain about. Well, almost nothing as I could have done with a bit wider string spacing. But playabilty is very good. Really good.

Which, unfortunately, could not have been said about the sound of the guitar.

It had a horrible sound. Shrill, no bass, all high mids with an aggressive bite. The blurb said that it was strung with D’Addario EXPs and the strings looked and felt like new D’Addario EXP. They kept the tune nicely. If that would have been a guitar in a shop, it would have gone back to the wall in a moment. It sounded worse than a sub-$200 Xaviere acoustic from Guitar Fetish.

But since it is not in a shop, but at home with me, I rather considered a string change. I have had a set of Martin Retro at hand and even though they are not my favourite strings, I took a chance and switched to those Martin Monel strings. Oh Dear! What a change. No guitar sounds good with Martin strings, not even Martin guitars, but the it could not have become worse. And, frankly, even the Martin Monel strings changed the sound of that guitar to the positive. Still, I do not think the Martin strings do any good on the guitar and the next strings I want to try on this guitar are Elixir Nanoweb.

Amazingly, the electric sound of the guitar, even with the crappy factory strings, was more than acceptable, possibly due to the B-Band T55 system used. First, the T55 uses a permanently charged electret UST instead of a piezo, which does not have the quacky piezo transients, second because of the good preamp. Four band EQ and a tuneable notch filter plus a quasi-analog needle tuner and both an XLR and standard outputs make it a formidable weapon. I have but one thing to criticize - the preamp can not be powered by 48V phantom supplied on the XLR.

To conclude this review, I might want to emphasize that if I had had paid the full prize for this guitar, I would have felt short changed. Given the price I have paid, I feel quite okay with the guitar. It does not have the most amazing acoustic sound, but the electric sound makes up for it. It could be a good singer/songwriter or Americana guitar, good for small to medium sized setups. My main critic would be the slightly high price given the acoustic quality, the good looking but not too robust case and the non-remote power capabilty of the preamp.

But is is a bloody good looking guitar.

Unfortunately, natural light in my neck of the woods does not lend to nice photography with natural light and flashes and high-gloss…… well, I have to deliver the photos at a later time.

 

 

[Grant Harding]

HNGD! Sounds like a real looker.

 

Pity you're not happy with the sound. I assume it's due to the weight and all laminate construction, which seems unusual in that price bracket.

[katopp]

Well, I count that on the strings. Factory strings were horrible, Martin Retro have been an improvement. Will go and test more.

 

Yes, it is a looker. I hope to have to have it half decent sound after changing to Elixirs.

[Grant Harding]

I think the guitar has just been optimised for stage use. I've yet to play a great acoustic electric that will also sound impressive amongst acoustic acoustics. You just don't want that much resonance on a loud stage.

[katopp]

I agree on that. Stage use and acoustic acoustic do usually not go well together.

[DeepEnd]

I think the guitar has just been optimised for stage use. I've yet to play a great acoustic electric that will also sound impressive amongst acoustic acoustics. You just don't want that much resonance on a loud stage.

This may well be the case but I've also found that guitars that are made to look cool (the Ibanez Exotic Wood series, for example) don't often have great unplugged sound. As for the laminated construction, solid koa is apparently not cheap. Takamine sells the EF508KC for $1400 and it's all laminated: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EF508KC?utm_source=MSN&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=none&utm_term=ProductType3acoustic_electric_guitars&creative=9338692702&device=c. Quite pretty but $1400 for laminated wood?

Anyway, Happy New Guitar Day. Keep us posted about your progress finding the right strings.

[Emory]

Okay, you made me look for it... "The top itself is a complicated amalgamation of movingui, padauk, bubinga, koa and spalt maple wood." Conventional wisdom looks for solid top, but who knows how solid is solid. As far as sound goes, it is very pretty. (little joke there). If sounds good plugged in, that is a plus. With paper thin veneer I would suggest getting one of those peel and stick clear pickguards.... hope you are satisfied enough. Do hate taking a chance and later wondering "Why did I do that?"

[katopp]

Don’t think that I will have to put a clear pick guard on it. The finish is - as usual - quite robust. Not really in need of a pick guard.

Yeah, the blurb does not mention that the beautiful woods are just veneer that is laminated on to some nondescript top.

But, on the other hand, would you believe that a solid top made of those woods would be had at less than $800? So I was quite sure that it was one kind of a veneer job or another. Given the fact, that it’s just a paper thin veneer job, it is not as complicated as it looks. You could easily assemble laser cut or otherwise cut pieces together on a frame and then transfer the whole shebang to the top.

That guitar is definitely more an electric/acoustic than an acoustic/electric guitar. Pretty, though.

 

[Delmont]

I agree on that. Stage use and acoustic acoustic do usually not go well together.

 

Really? I love playing my acoustics on stage! Love playing my electrics, too. Would never want an acoustic/electric hybrid. Neither fish nor fowl. Just foul!

[katopp]

Depends. Micing an acoustic on stage is a pita

[Grant Harding]

How loud are the stages you play? In many cases you have to do so much to dampen a lively guitar that it makes it pointless.

[Delmont]

I have a soundhole pickup. It either goes into my guitar amp or a PA. I'm no pro, just another twangbanger, but I've heard plenty of pros play folk guitars on stage over the years, some miked, some with pickups.

[Grant Harding]

Well that's a different beast altogether. You could use a lightly braced guitar and not have feedback problems with a soundhole pickup. It doesn't typically sound very "acoustic" to the audience, but you can get great sounds. It's what I use in really difficult situations (eg: with electric guitars and drums).

My main A/E has a mic/piezo blend, so I blend in as much mic as I can get away with (often none).

[katopp]

Okay, took the Martin Retro strings off and replaced them with Elixir PBs.

Not as bad as the EXP16, but nearly as bad.

This guitar does not like PBs.

I - personally - do not like 80/20, but this will be my next try.

But the Elixirs will have to earn their money first.

[Grant Harding]

Some guitars just sound better with 80/20 strings. My friend's Gibson Dove is like that. It's got an amazingly powerful midrange and low end, so they sizzle it up and balance better.

The Elixirs will take a while to break in, but they still never achieve the wondrous sound that uncoated strings achieve in the first 4 hours.

[katopp]

I do like the more played-in sound, though.

The Luna does not like PB. Sounds too harsh with it.The Retro were better than the PB.

Next stop will be Martin 80/20.

[DeepEnd]

You can certainly try 80/20's but my gut says you won't like them. You described the guitar's out-of-the-box tone as "shrill" and 80/20's tend to be bright, especially at first. They might sound better once they're played in but not initially.

[katopp]

I know, 80/20 are not to my liking, but in the interest of leaving no stone unturned....

 

Added Earthwood and Aluminum Bronze sets to my list of strings to try with the Luna.

[katopp]

Talked to Luna. They said it is marquetry and the fancy woods are also the top.

I would want to cll them on that.

To me, this does not look like the top is marquetry. To me this looks like veneer laminated to a nondescript top.

Any opinions?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n31902674[/ATTACH]

 

[DeepEnd]

Talked to Luna. They said it is marquetry and the fancy woods are also the top.

I would want to cll them on that.

To me, this does not look like the top is marquetry. To me this looks like veneer laminated to a nondescript top.

Any opinions?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n31902674[/ATTACH]

I agree. As you said in another thread, it looks like veneer over what is probably a solid top. My guess would be spruce, maybe not top grade since it's covered.

[katopp]

In modern mass-fabrication a lot of standard components are used. Take a look at Yamaha. The whole machinery, routing, woods, you name it for the FG7xx is the same. They use the same routing, they only fill the routed channel with either ABS or abalone. The whole difference between the cheapest and the most expensive FG7xx is the amount of bling and the veneer on top of the nato lam body. That keeps the cost down and the profit up.

Luna is doing the same thing. All of the GA models come from the same production line, they even use the same (lo quality) lam for the top, the only difference is the veneer that's laminated to the top. Unfortunately, I can't yet take proper pics from the inside of the guitar - have to get me a remote for my phone - but what I've seen though a borrowed mirror and through my bore inspection cam made me .... shudder. Built to a - cheap - price. I would not mind if it would have been one of those cheap Luna models. If it's about $200 to $300 this is what you get (even though you can possibly get better than Luna in that bracket), but for a $700 guitar, it is abysmal. I don't mind the occasional dribbles of glue inside a guitar. I do not see it, it does not do any harm to the sound, usability or durability of the guitar, if one chooses not to be anal with that - fair enough. But if I see pronounced knots in the top wood - unfortunately my borescope cam is not designed to take quality pictures and I will have to do some setup, so picture proof will have to wait - I become severely concerned.

Don't get me wrong here. It's a solidly built guitar. Built like a tank. There is no give in the neck, everything outside - and the electric sound - is as good as it can be - at least at that price point. Setup is impeccable. If you would ask me what to use for s serious series of gigs: the Luna or the Ovation Celebrity it would possibly be the Luna. Never had a better sounding (electrically) and playing acoustic/electric guitar out of the case from ANY manufacturer. Very effortless to play. Top marks. But the inside of it is a dirty little secret. Okay for an cheapo all-lam beginner guitar for the 14 year old girl, but ohh myyyy! Not even in the same ballpark as a similarly priced Yamaha, Cort, Tanglewood, Seagull, Washburn..... you name it. And for a list price of $1200 an a street price north of $600 up to almost $750 this is not good. Not even close.

I will keep it. It looks too good and it makes a nice artwork on the livingroom wall. I will play it. The sound has improved with the age of the strings. Not wholly what I want to hear - but then again you may need a different voicing sometimes. That's why one has different guitars. When I have to go acoustic/electric, this will be the main weapon of choice.

But would I buy it again?

Even at the 50% discount?

With a customer service department that is clearly lying to me?

I don't think so.

[Freeman Keller]

You haven't actually posted a picture of this thing and I'm sure that DE and others have looked it up, but if not here is a picture. The Spalted maple is the light colored stuff on the bottom of the picture (it goes off at the bottom). As you know, spalted wood is basically rotten - it has very little structure and simply would not work for a top unless it was laminated to some substrate. I'm sure thats how the image was made - nice little laser cut pieces that all fit together and laminated to something that will hold them it place. Kind of makes you wonder what the Chladni pattern looks like, eh

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[bigald18]

For once I'll say it: I know nothing about how Lunas are made or what they sound like. If you like it then great. If you don't then bite your lip and sell it. Nothing worse than playing a guitar you don't like.

 

BigAl

 

 

[Tony Burns]

Not really a Luna fan myself - but its a wild looking instrument - not a bad price

love the cutaway --

[katopp]

I'll keep it for it's good electric sounds. It sounds better than the Ovation and if I get a sweet offer, the Ovation goes.

If not, who cares. I can keep another one without having to starve.

The thing with the Ovation is that you have to keep playing it because it's so different with the bowl and the Telecaster neck. If you don't, you'll learn to hate it. The Luna is much more conventional and because of the all-lam tank-like construction it might be as robust as the Ovation without being as annoying if you lose familiarisation. And, let's be honest, the Ovation is not really a cannon either. Acoustically it is sweeter than the Luna and yes, it projects into a room or a crowd better, but when played amplified, it does nor matter.